TTT Triple T
by BigStuOU
Summary: Tori gets recruited by a secret government agency and tries to balance life with her friends, school and her new secret identity.  Is T for now, may change to M later.
1. The Test

**Hi guys, BigStuOU here and this is my new story that I just thought of today. It is going to have romance, action, suspense, friendship and hopefully everything else you could want in a story! I don't know how many of you saw the movie XXX with Vin Diesel. It was kind of cheesy but it had great action and kind of a cool plot and that is what I was thinking of doing with this story. I don't want to give too much away though so I hope you enjoy the first chapter of TTT.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious…I wish I did though.**

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><p>"You kissed Trina!" Jade West screamed at her ex-boyfriend Beck Oliver.<p>

"Jade, it was just a joke. I was trying to show Trina that she cannot tell lies about me asking her out and expect me to do nothing to stop her."

"So, now you're saying that you think Trina is prettier than me!"

"What…I didn't…how do you…" Beck sputtered.

Tori Vega looked over at her best friend Andre Harris. They both rolled their eyes and returned to eating their lunches (a salad for her and a hamburger and fries for him) while they listened to their friends bickering.

Robbie Shapiro leaned over and whispered in Tori's ear, "I guess the whole not talking phase is over with." Tori smirked at this which caused Jade to turn her attention to the girl she most detested at Hollywood Arts.

"What's so funny Vega?" Jade sneered as she glared at Tori.

"Nothing Jade, Robbie was just telling me a joke." Tori replied, hoping that would placate her irate frenemy.

"Seriously Jade, you have got to stop being so paranoid!" Beck replied which earned him a look that could freeze over hell.

"You know what, I don't have to sit here and listen to you losers pick on me. I'm out of here. C'mon Cat." Jade said, dragging the petite redhead up from their table.

Cat squeaked out a quick "Okay Jadey, bye guys" before following Jade into the school.

"Geez Beck, she is still treating you like she did when you were together." Andre said.

"I KNOW! I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT ANYMORE!" Beck shouted before getting up and stalking into the building.

Andre, Tori and Robbie all looked wide-eyed at each other as they watched Beck walk away from them. Beck was the most laid back person that they knew and if he was acting like this, he had to be really pissed off. Luckily, the three were saved from the awkwardness of their situation by the ringing of the bell signaling the return to classes after lunch.

"Well, I guess I'll throw all of this away." Tori said sarcastically while picking up not only her lunch but also Jade's, Cat's and Beck's leftovers.

"Here Tori, let me help." Andre replied, ever the gentlemen.

As Andre looked at Robbie expectantly, waiting for him to volunteer additinal help, Robbie held up his hand and whined. "Just look at this nail I broke, I gotta go get this patched up" as he ran towards the restrooms.

Tori and Andre looked wearily at one another as they walked over to the trash bins and then on into Hollywood Arts.

"Why are all of our friends so weird?" Tori pondered.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Andre answered back.

The two walked into Sikowitz's classroom to find Beck and Jade sitting as far apart as possible. They were both looking away from one another with their arms crossed over their chests.

"I think Beck and Jade are mad at each other." Cat whispered to Andre as he sat down next to her while Tori took a seat between Andre and Beck.

"What made you think that Lil Red?" Andre sarcastically asked her.

"Because Jade threw a water bottle at Beck's head and then Beck opened the water and dumped it down her back."

"Ohhhh, so that's why Jade's shirt looks all wet. I thought it was some new look she was trying." Tori commented a little too loudly which earned her glares from both Beck and Jade.

"Alright class…I have a little surprise for you today." Sikowitz said as he walked up behind Robbie, causing the younger man to shriek.

"Wow, it must be a good surprise if you are actually using the door." Andre smirked.

"Oh it is…..POP QUIZ TIME!"

"Why would you think a pop quiz is a good surprise?" Beck groaned.

"Awwwww, is someone in a grumpy mood today Becky?" Sikowitz teased. "And, it's a good surprise because it is an acting aptitude test. It will tell me how much your acting skills have grown over the course of this year. This could lead to you getting more parts in my plays and getting some calls from some of my "friends" in the industry.

The class perked up a little at that but still, a test was a test and no one likes tests. Tori moaned as Sikowitz handed out a stack of rather thick looking booklets.

"Sikowitz, this doesn't look like a quiz, this looks like a full blown test…or about 10 tests from the size of this packet." Tori whined.

"Oh Toro, quite whining…it's not as long as it looks and most of the questions are multiple choice anyways. Now everyone take out your number #2 pencils."

"Uhhhh…Sikowitz, we don't have any #2 pencils." Robbie stuttered.

"What was that you say?" Sikowitz asked, looking at Robbie as if he had spoken in Chinese.

"He said we don't have any freaking #2 pencils you stupid moron!" Jade answered angrily.

"Do I have to do everything around here?" Sikowitz sighed as he took out a box of #2 pencils from his desk drawer and began passing them out. "And Jade, quit being such a gank or I am sending you to see Principal Helen."

As Tori received her pencil and opened up the test booklet she saw that it actually wasn't as bad as she had previously thought. Most of the questions pertained to certain acting styles and terminology and she felt like she answered them all pretty well. She finally reached the last section of the test which contained some short story questions that Tori would have to answer.

1. Boris and Natasha

Boris and Natasha live in different cities in a country with a corrupt postal service. Every box sent by mail is opened by the postal service, the contents stolen, and the box never delivered. _Except_: if the box is locked, then the postal service won't bother trying to open it (since there are so many other boxes whose contents are so much easier to steal) and the box is delivered unharmed.

Boris and Natasha each has a large supply of boxes of different sizes, each capable of being locked by padlocks. Also, Boris and Natasha each has a large supply of padlocks with matching keys. The padlocks have unique keys. Finally, Boris has a ring that he would like to send to Natasha. How can Boris send the ring to Natasha so that she can wear it (without either of them destroying any locks or boxes)?

Tori quickly looked around the classroom, shock evident on her face. Is anyone else as freaked out about this question as me? What the heck do Boris and Natasha have to do with acting?

"Beck...hey Beck?" Tori whisper screamed at the dark haired boy next to her.

Beck looked over at her and whispered, "What's up?"

"Have you gotten to the last section of the test yet?" Tori whispered back checking to make sure that Sikowitz was still in a daze, sipping on his coconut milk.

"No, I was just about to start it, why?"

"Just read the first question…"

Beck began to read and Tori could see his eyes getting wider and wider as he got towards the end of the first question.

"What the hell is this?" Beck whisper screamed back at Tori.

"I don't know…how are we supposed to answer this?" Tori said softly, trying not to freak out.

She saw Beck raise his hand while calling out, "Hey Sikowitz…what is up with this last section of the test?"

Sikowitz came out of his trance and stood up, walking over to read from Cat's test.

"Good Ghandi, this question isn't about acting. Honestly children, I have no idea what to tell you. Principal Helen gave me these tests this morning and said that I had to administer them to all of my students in all of my classes."

"So how are we supposed to answer these questions?" Tori asked, looking around at her classmates nervously.

"He he, this guy is named Boris." Cat giggled and then started to scribble on her booklet.

"Well children, I think you just need to answer these questions to the best of your ability and hope that they won't affect the rest of your test."

"They better not! I am not getting a bad grade on this just because some stupid person decided to add these ridiculous questions at the end as some kind of joke!" Jade growled.

Tori looked over at Beck who shrugged his shoulders and started writing down his answer. She looked down at her own test and decided to give it a shot. After a few minutes of thinking about the first question, she came up with what seemed to be an acceptable answer. All in all, there were 7 questions, each one weirder and more random than the one before. Tori did her best to answer them but she knew that she probably got every single one totally and completely wrong.

Tori was the last one in the class to finish her test. She slowly walked up to Sikowitz's desk to turn it in, still second guessing her answers.

"So Toro, how do you think you did?" Sikowitz asked her with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Well, I think I did really well on the first four parts but that fifth part was really tough. I don't know how I did on that part. The questions were just so weird and random."

"Well, I hope you gave some weird and random answers then." Sikowitz said comically before taking her test and putting it on top of the stack on his desk.

"Yeah, I guess I did." Tori replied, thinking Sikowitz was acting even stranger than normal. She went to join the rest of her friends and found them all standing by her locker.

"What was up with that test?" Andre groaned.

"I thought it was kind of fun." Robbie said enthusiastically.

"You would, you're a big nerd." Rex mocked.

"Hey Tori!" Cat exclaimed, noticing their friend walking up. "So, what did you think about the test?"

"Well, I just thought it was really weird but whatever. Sikowitz said something to me about weird answer but I didn't really understand what he meant."

Beck added, "That guy is just crazy, he never makes any sense…but he is a great acting teacher."

"Well, we will all see on Monday when we get the results." Jade said. "I'm not worried at all, I know I did well."

Tori sighed unhappily as she finished putting her books into her bag. When she finished, she joined her friends in walking out of Hollywood Arts, ready to start her weekend and forget all about the test.

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><p><strong>So there it is…the first chapter of TTT. Feel free to review and I most definitely accept constructive criticisms…how else will my writing ever get better. I am not going to reveal any pairings though because I want people to actually give my story a chance and not quit reading just because their favorite pair isn't together. Plus, I don't even really know where exactly this story is going, since I just thought of it today. I do have a tentative idea though so if you must know about who will be with whom…PM me and I will let you know what I am thinking right now. <strong>


	2. Her Choice

**So here is Chapter 2 of TTT. I hope you guys enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious...nuff said.**

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><p>Tori spent an uneventful weekend hanging around her house. She did get out Saturday night when Jade forced the gang to go see the newly released 3D version of The Scissoring. Tori spent the majority of the movie either clinging to Andre who sat on her left, or covering her eyes and screaming with Cat who sat on her right.<p>

"That was seriously the most beautiful thing I think I have ever seen." Jade pronounced gleefully as they walked out of the theater.

"There is seriously something wrong with you girl." Andre replied as he tried to pry a still frightened Tori's hands off of his arm.

"How can you like that kind of movie Jadey?" Cat asked in her little girl voice, tears evident in her eyes.

"Is it my fault none of you know real genius when you see it?" Jade asked condescendingly which earned her an eye roll from Beck.

Tori had a lot of trouble sleeping that night, due to the horrific movie her frenemy had forced her to view. It seemed as if the moment she fell asleep she felt herself being shaken awake by an irate Trina.

"Tori, did you take my new MAC lip gloss?"

"Huh…what?" Tori asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"You heard me…you totally stole it!" Trina yelled as she began to go through Tori's dresser drawers.

"Hey! Trina, cut it out! You are messing up all my stuff. I didn't take your stupid lip gloss!" Tori shouted as she jumped out of bed and attempted to stop Trina from ransacking her drawers.

"Fine…but if I find out you took it, you are dead meat!" Trina screamed furiously as she stomped out of Tori's room, slamming the door behind her.

The clock on her nightstand read 8:30am and Tori wanted nothing more than to just crawl back in bed and sleep the day away. As she was about to do just that she heard her mom yell from downstairs.

"Tori, are you up? Remember we are going to the big Macy's sale today. We don't want to be late so hurry!"

"Oh crap." Tori groaned as she quickly jumped out of her pajamas and threw on some jeans and a t-shirt. "This is going to be a long day."

After spending all day shopping and dealing with her mother and Trina's constant bickering, Tori came home exhausted and proceeded to pass out in her bed. She got a few hours of peaceful slumber before she heard a noise outside her bedroom window.

"Huh, what was that?" Tori asked as she shot up in her bed, suddenly wide awake.

Tori looked over at her bedside clock and saw that it was 1:30 in the morning. She had been awakened by a soft tapping on her glass.

It's probably just Andre, coming to tell me he is in love with Jade again. Tori thought sarcastically as she got out of bed and made her way to the window. However, she never got to see who was at her window because before Tori knew what hit her, she suddenly fell to the ground unconscious.

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><p>Tori regained consciousness about an hour later. She quickly realized that there was a thick bag over her head and that her hands and feet were cuffed together. She tried to stand up only to find that she was also cuffed to the chair in which she was sitting. At this point, Tori did the only thing she could think of which was to start screaming as loudly as possible.<p>

"Someone, anyone, please help me!" Tori pleaded her voice full of desperation and fear.

After a few minutes of non-stop yelling her voice became hoarse and she realized that no one was going to come and rescue her from this predicament. She decided to save what remained of her voice as she silently began to sob.

"Are ya done yelling yet?" A harsh female voice asked.

Tori stopped her crying long enough to nod a quick yes before tears began to run down her cheeks once more.

Suddenly, she felt the bag being lifted off her head. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the bright light that was shining in her face. She turned her head quickly to the left and right, trying to get her bearings. Tori noticed the room she was in was square in shape and had concrete walls and flooring. The only furniture in the room was the small table she sat at and two chairs. There was only one door that led in or out of the room and it was guarded by a rather large man who looked like he could crush Tori with one hand.

"Excuse me princess, but when you're done checking out the furnishings would you mind giving me a moment of your time?" The same voice asked in a mocking tone.

Tori was about to say something rude in response when she turned towards the woman and came face to face with none other than the Hollywood Art's own Principal Helen.

"Pri…Pri…Principal Helen?" Tori stuttered, trying to understand why her school Principal would want to kidnap her.

"Yep, that's me. I suppose you're wondering why you're here?" She said, looking down at her nails as if she was already bored with the conversation.

"Well yeah…that would be nice!" Tori said sarcastically, starting to feel not only fear but anger at the woman sitting in front of her.

Suddenly, Helen looked up and gave Tori a very serious glare that told her she need to keep her mouth shut.

"You remember that test you took on Friday?" Helen inquired, looking at Tori expectantly.

"Well, yeah…the one with the weird questions, right?"

"Right, that test was not just an acting aptitude test. Helen paused, trying to figure out the right words to begin her conversation with the young woman before her.

God, where do I start…" Helen asked herself, her eyebrows furrowing in frustration.

"How about at the beginning?" Tori squeaked out which earned her a glare from Helen.

"Fine," Helen said with a sigh. "I guess I should start with the fact that I am not just the principal of Hollywood Arts. Being a principal is just my cover identity."

"Your cover identity! What are you?" Tori asked, her eyes widening. "A secret agent or something?"

Helen leveled her with an angry scowl as she slowly spoke. "Yeah, something like that."

Tori's mouth fell open at the sudden admission. She quickly thought back to all those bathroom trips when she had seen Helen sneaking into and out of H.A. Tori was one of those girls who had to go to the bathroom a lot.

"I work for an organization that deals in intelligence and surveillance for the U.S. government. Essentially, spying." Helen added after seeing the confused expression on Tori's face. "And…we want you to join us."

"Me…wha…who…why me? I am the least "spy-like" person I know. I cannot even keep my diary hidden from Trina and we all know she isn't exactly a member of MENSA."

Helen slowly walked around the table and sat down in the chair directly across from Tori.

"Listen honey, you may not feel like you are very "spy-like," but you are one hell of an actress. And, you scored incredibly high on your test. You are actually the only one who got 6 out of 7 questions right on the last section. And, let me tell you, getting that many questions right doesn't happen very often."

"But, I'm only 17 years old…I can't be a spy." Tori pointed out, still wondering if this was all some kind of bizarre dream she was having.

"Actually, the fact that you are 17 makes you a perfect candidate for this program. Have you not been watching the news lately?"

Tori lowered her eyes feeling embarrassed as she slowly shook her head no.

"Well, you should. The world is going to hell and you know who is sending it there…kids. We can't send in some 35-40 year old and expect people to believe he or she is 21 years old. We have tried that in the past and the only results we have seen is our agents being compromised and most of the time, executed. That's why this program was created, to recruit young men and woman into the espionage field. Our government feels that if we can engage young adults and give them the right tools and training, we can access people and places that we never would have thought possible 10 years ago."

Tori attempted to take in all of the information that was being thrown at her. She still couldn't comprehend why the government would recruit from a performing arts school. Wouldn't it make more sense to recruit kids from military schools?

"So, I am still trying to understand why the government would want kids from Hollywood Arts for this type of organization?" Tori questioned as she felt her wrists beginning to chafe under the handcuffs. She struggled uncomfortably, trying to find the position that gave her the least amount of discomfort.

"Oh whoops, sorry about the handcuffs. They were just a precautionary measure." Helen said as she signaled for the guard to come and remove Tori's restraints.

As Tori felt her wrists and ankles freed from the painful handcuffs she motioned for Helen to continue.

"Well, one of the toughest skills for any spy is the ability to act like a different person. So, it was my idea to go into performing arts schools and look for the best and brightest actors and actresses who also had the ability to think outside the box."

"I'm surprised you didn't pick Jade then." Tori muttered under her breath.

"Miss West is none of your concern." Helen declared forcefully. "As far as you know, you are the only person from your entire school that was picked for this program."

Helen then gave Tori a few minutes to sit and reflect on everything she had just been told. Tori thought back to the test that started this whole mess. Who would've thought that I, Victoria Marie Vega, would ever be asked to be a spy for the U.S. government?

"Do I have a choice whether or not to join your organization?" Tori hesitantly asked Helen.

"Of course honey, this is the United States. We are a free country and you have the freedom to tell me to go to hell (but you better not use that kind of language with me)! You don't have to decide right this minute. But in three days, we will be contacting you to find out your decision. Once you have made your choice there is no going back, no changing your mind.

"I understand." Tori said right before a big yawn overtook her. The events of the night and her already being exhausted were starting to take their toll on Tori as her eyelids began to droop.

"Remember Tori, the choice is yours." Helen said as the guard by the door shot Tori with a dart gun, sending her back into unconsciousness.

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><p><strong>So, how did you like chapter 2? Let me know, please review (wow, that rhymed)!<strong>


	3. Her Decision

**Well, here is the third chapter of TTT. I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing and putting my story on alert…you guys ROCK! And just so you know, I really do appreciate all of the reviews. It seriously makes me so happy when someone tells me that they like my story.**

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><p>Tori spent the next three days in a dream-like state. She felt like she was just going through the daily motions of school, eating and hanging out with her friends. Her mind was constantly on the difficult choice she was faced with. Tori knew that this decision would affect the rest of her life. She would probably have to give up her dreams of being an actress and international pop star. But, she would be helping her country and getting to do things that most people never dreamed of doing. How was she ever going to figure this whole mess out?<p>

On the third and final day Tori faked being sick so she could stay at home and spend the whole day thinking about her impending decision. She tried making pro and con lists. She tried one of her mother's yoga DVD's to see if it would relax her mind and body. She even tried getting her mind off of the topic at hand by watching a CSI marathon on TNT. None of these things gave Tori any insight into what she should do. If anything, they made her even more confused about her decision.

That is why at 2:30 in the afternoon Tori was sitting at her kitchen table with a huge carton of Rocky Road ice cream in front of her. She had already eaten a third of the carton and was starting to feel sick to her stomach when she heard the front door open and shut.

"Tori, honey? I came home to check on you and see how you were feeling." The voice of Holly Vega called out as she walked into the kitchen carrying a sack containing frozen yogurt for her youngest daughter.

"Well, I see you won't need this." Holly smirked as she put the yogurt in the freezer.

"Oh mom, I am so confused." Tori groaned as she laid her forehead down on the cool wood of the table.

Holly pulled a chair up next to her daughter and took one of her hands in her own.

"I knew you had been acting different the past few days. What's wrong Tor…this isn't just about being sick is it? Did Trina do something to you…or was it that mean girl Jade?" Holly asked concern evident in her tone.

"No mom, it's nothing like that. It's just…mom, have you ever had to make a really difficult choice and no matter what you tried, you couldn't figure out what to do?"

Holly Vega stood up and went to a drawer to grab another spoon. She then took off her blazer and placed it on the back of her chair before sitting down and grabbing a spoonful of ice cream. She pondered over what to tell her daughter as she let the cold ice cream melt in her mouth. This was one of those difficult times when a parent's answer could really affect the choices that their child had to make. Holly could tell that Tori was very torn up over whatever was troubling her and she wanted to help out her little girl in whatever way possible. So she took a deep breath and prepared to tell a story that she had hoped she would never have to tell Tori.

"Honey, have I ever told you about how you came to be?" Holly questioned her daughter, taking another bite of ice cream.

"Yes mom." Tori moaned, "I know I was a happy accident, you've told me this story a million times."

"Well, what if I told you that you were an accident, but not such a happy one for your father and me?"

At the sound of those words, Tori's face fell and she could feel tears beginning to prick at her eyes.

"Now wait Tori, don't get upset until you let me tell you the whole story, please!" Holly pleaded with her daughter as Tori tried to compose herself enough to listen to her mother. When she had finally calmed down, Tori motioned for her mother to continue the story.

"Well, your father and I had always planned on having only one child. I wanted to be a stay at home mom and the only way we could do that on your father's salary was if we had just one child."

Tori nodded, she already knew this part of the story.

"So, we had Trina and everything was going really well until Trina was about 6 months old and I started feeling sick again. I had always heard that old saying that you couldn't get pregnant if you were breast-feeding. Well, you are living proof that is a lie. I found out I was four and a half weeks pregnant with you the following day."

Holly took another bite of ice cream before continuing.

"Honey, I want you to understand that your father and I were very conflicted over what to do about you. We both knew that we didn't want to have another child, so the discovery that I was pregnant was not a joyous one." At this point Holly paused and lowered her head, averting her eyes from Tori's gaze.

Tori started to get teary-eyed again at her mother's confession. She couldn't believe that her parents hadn't wanted her. Tori tried to remain composed and remember that she needed to hear her mother out. She grabbed a big bite of ice cream and leaned back in her chair, waiting for her mother to continue.

When Holly finally raised her head and looked at Tori she had tears in her eyes that were beginning to run down onto her cheeks. The next words that came out of her mouth were said in a whisper.

"We almost got rid of you."

At this sentence, both Tori and Holly broke down into sobs which eventually subsided until the two were merely sniffling at one another. As they sat there in silence, Tori finally lost it and began screaming at Holly.

"How is this supposed to be helping me mom?" Tori shouted. "Why would I want to hear that you almost aborted me, that you didn't want me?"

Without waiting to hear her mother's explanation, Tori got up from the table and slammed her spoon down. She then proceeded to run up to her room and throw herself down on the bed as she began to cry again.

A few minutes went by and Tori had almost cried herself to sleep when she heard her door being opened softly. She heard footsteps slowly walk over to her bed and then she felt her mother begin to stroke her hair. She wanted to shrug off her mother's loving gesture and scream at her to get out of her room. But, after the news she had just received and the past three days of being completely out of it, she just didn't have the energy.

"Sweetheart, you didn't let me finish the story." Holly softly said, feeling her heart break at the pain she knew she was causing Tori. "I know that hearing all of that must have been devastating but I want to tell you what happened next."

"Fine, it's not like you can hurt me any worse than you already have!" Tori said harshly, jerking upright to look her mother in the eye.

"One night a week later I was sitting in bed reading, trying to get my mind off the difficult choice I had to make. Your father was sound asleep and I decided it was time to quit messing around and come to a decision, so I did just that. I decided to forget about all of the hardships that would come from having another child and focus on all of the wonderful blessings that a child brings. So what if I had to go back to work? So what if we had to struggle a little more financially? I resolved that I wasn't going to take my problems out on the innocent life inside me. I fell asleep that night knowing that I was going to have you. That was the first night I slept soundly since I had found out I was pregnant."

Tori's eyes softened towards her mother as she leaned forward and threw herself into Holly's arms.

"I love you so much Tori. You were the hardest and the best decision I ever made." Holly said as she held her daughter to her, softly stroking her hair.

"I love you too mommy and thank you for telling me the entire story. I'm not going to lie, it hurt knowing that you guys didn't want me at first. But, I think I get the point you are trying to make. Sometimes, when we are faced with difficult decisions, we have to take a leap of faith and hope that we made the right choice."

"Yes, and sometimes the hardest decisions are the most rewarding in the long run." Holly said, smiling lovingly down at her youngest.

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><p>At 9:00 that evening, Tori received a text from an unknown number.<p>

"Come to my office at the school ASAP!"

Tori knew that the text was from Helen. She ran downstairs and made an excuse to her parents that she had a test in Trigonometry in the morning and that she had forgotten to bring her book home to study. They both looked up from the movie they were watching and gave her a skeptical look. Tori knew that her excuse was not very believable, since she had claimed to be deathly ill that very morning. Thankfully Trina chose that very moment to begin screaming for help from upstairs.

Tori rolled her eyes at her sister's increasingly insane antics, all for the sake of beauty. She knew that Trina had been trying to give herself a homemade seaweed wrap and probably got herself stuck in the strips of cloth. Knowing that Trina was probably naked and would be mortified if both of her parents's showed up in the bathroom, Tori tried to save her sister a little embarrassment.

"I think mom should probably take this one dad." Tori said, gazing at her mother apologetically.

As Holly Vega sighed and got off the couch, David looked thankfully at his youngest daughter and stood up.

"You didn't think I was going to let you drive yourself to the school, did you?"

"No, I just didn't want to bug you and it is only a couple of miles away." Tori said as she handed him the car keys.

"Now what kind of example would I be setting if I allowed my unlicensed daughter to drive around, especially at nighttime?" David smirked as he followed Tori out the door.

"Ha ha dad…so funny, make fun of your daughter flunking the driver's test because she didn't see the old lady. She shouldn't have been crossing right there anyways…you know she was jaywalking!" Tori yelled as they got in the car and headed towards Hollywood Arts.

When they pulled up to Hollywood Arts, Tori turned to her father and told him it might take her a few minutes to find her book since the hallways wouldn't be lit.

"I'm honestly surprised that the school would be open this late." David pondered as he looked at the unlit building. "Are you sure it is unlocked?"

"Yeah dad, when Andre texted me a few minutes ago to remind me about the test, he said he was just leaving the music room." Tori said convincingly, hating that she had to lie to her father.

"Okay, I'll just be waiting for you here then." David said as he turned on an oldies station and began bobbing his head to The Beatles.

Tori ran into the school and towards Principal Helen's office. It looked like no one else was here which made Tori extremely nervous. She was already a little afraid of the dark and it didn't help that the school looked pretty scary at night with all of the lights turned off.

She finally made it to the only room with its lights shining brightly. Tori softly knocked on the door before continuing into the waiting area. The desk that Principal Helen's assistant usually sat at was vacant and looked neat and tidy, ready for the next days work. As she looked at the gigantic purple stapler that sat on one side of the desk Tori heard her voice being called.

"Are you going to stand out there all night or are you going to get your tiny butt in here already?" Helen shouted from behind the glass door that said Principal on it.

Tori opened the door and found Helen sitting at her desk with two large men dressed like secret service agents behind her.

"Sorry." Tori apologized as she closed the door and went to sit in the chair in front of Helen's desk.

"It's fine." Helen replied curtly. "Look, I know your dad's out there and we don't have long. So let's get right to it, shall we? Have you made a decision about our offer?"

"Well….ummmm…it was really hard to decide what to do." Tori continued, "I tried to make these lists and…"

"Out with it girly, we don't have all night here. Do you want to join this organization or not?" Helen said impatiently as she slammed her hands down on her desk, causing Tori to jump in her seat.

"Uhhhh….well….yes, yes I think I will join you all." Tori said, already wondering if this was a bad idea.

Helen sat back in her chair with a smug smile on her face.

"Well now, you have surprised me Miss Vega. I didn't think you would be "spy-like" enough to join us." Helen said, chuckling to herself over her little joke.

"So, now what?" Tori wondered aloud.

"Now, you go back to your daddy, get in the car and drive home. We will contact you about when and where your training will begin. Until then, go on leading your life as you always have."

Tori stood up slowly and made her way to the door.

"Oh and Tori, don't forget this." Helen said as one of the large men handed Tori her Trigonometry book.

Tori turned back to the door and as she was halfway out it Helen called out to her again.

"Miss Vega!"

"What?" Tori said impatiently.

"Welcome to S.T.A.R.S." (**S**pecial **T**actics **A**nd **R**escue **S**ervice)

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><p><strong>So I hope everyone liked the third chapter. Yes, I know, I totally stole the name of the agency from the Resident Evil video game. I tried to think up my own name and could come up with nothing…seriously, nothing. Also, the stapler on Helen's assistant's desk is taken from a YouTube video of Victoria Justice and Avan Jogia. For those of you who are missing the rest of the gang…it might be a couple more chapters before they really make much of an appearance again but don't worry, you won't be without them (at least some of them) for too long. I don't know if I will be able to update this weekend or not so expect a new chapter from me no later than Monday night. Have a great weekend! <strong>


	4. Tearing Her Down

**To all of my readers...I am so sorry about getting this chapter out late. I have honestly been a little overwhelmed in real life, thus, my story had to take a backseat to other duties for a few days. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and as always...reviews are like sugar, they make everything taste sweeter ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious...blah, blah, blah.**

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><p>Tori spent the next week and a half doing what she normally did. She attended school, did her homework and hung out with her friends and family. To the outside world Tori would have looked like any other Junior at Hollywood Arts. However, inside she was constantly on the alert, watching and wondering when she would next be contacted by S.T.A.R.S.<p>

"Hey Tori!" Robbie said as he slid in next to Tori at their usual table in the Asphalt Café.

"Hey there you foxy lady, wanna come sit on my lap?" Rex chimed in while gazing lewdly at Tori, if puppets can even do that.

"Hey Robbie and Robbie's puppet." Tori said sarcastically as she took a bite of her turkey sandwich. She and Robbie were the first ones to lunch since the math class they shared had let out 10 minutes early.

Robbie quickly covered Rex's ears and whisper yelled at Tori. "Tori, you know Rex doesn't like to be called a puppet."

"Sorry Robbie...and Rex." Tori mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" Robbie asked, trying to make conversation.

"Well, I hadn't really thought about it. I guess just hang around the house and try to get some homework done." She said as she shrugged her shoulders.

At that moment Andre and Cat walked up to the table. Cat was just finishing telling Andre another of her "my brother" stories.

"Hiiiiiiiiiii!" Cat squealed as she scooted in next to Robbie.

"Waz up guys?" Andre said smoothly as he dropped his bag on the ground and sat down next to Tori.

"Not too much, just talking about our weekend plans." Tori said as Cat reached over to grab a potato chip off her plate.

"I was just about to tell Tori this, but did you see that Lieutenant Blowhole 2: The Hole Gets Bigger is coming out tonight? We should totally all go see it." Robbie declared excitedly.

"Oh I love movies with animals…let's go, let's go, let's go!" Cat happily agreed.

"Sound's cool. What about you Tor?" Andre asked.

"Sure, I guess so…" Tori began before she was interrupted by the sound of her phone receiving a text message. She grabbed her phone and saw that it was from an unknown number.

_"Tonight, 7:00pm…1234 Birchwood Street." _

Tori's eyes widened as she read the text. She felt herself begin to tense up as she realized that the start of her new life was (gulp) tonight.

"Tori…earth to Tori." Robbie said, waving his hand in front of her face.

Tori looked up, realizing that all three of her friends were staring at her. She was quickly trying to formulate a believable story in her mind for why she would have to miss the movie. Luckily, Jade and Beck walked up with their lunches and bought her a little extra time.

"What's up?" Beck voiced as Jade sat down by Cat and quickly started stabbing at the salad she had bought.

"We were all making plans to go see Lieutenant Blowhole 2 tonight, you guys in?" Andre questioned.

"Sounds good to me." Beck smiled as he took a bite of his burger.

"I'd rather eat glass." Jade snarled as she continued murdering the lettuce leaves on her plate.

"Listen guys, I don't think I can go either. I forgot that I promised my parents we would have a family game night tonight." Tori lamented, rather believably if she did say so herself.

"Awwwwwww, but Tori….please come." Cat whined.

"I wish I could Cat. I just promised them a while ago and you know how parents get when you break plans with them."

"Yeah…I guess." Cat said, looking crestfallen.

Tori suddenly remembered something she had put in her bag for just this type of Cat situaiton. She knew exactly how to distract Cat from her sadness.

"Cat…guess what I have in my bag for you?" Tori teased in a sing-song voice.

Cat looked up excitedly as Tori handed her a cherry blow-pop. Cat's eyes shined brightly and all sadness was quickly forgotten.

Tori suddenly stood up, needing a moment to herself to process the information she had just received.

"Guys, I'll be back in a sec…bathroom break." She said as she attempted a smile before running in the direction of the ladies restrooms.

"Like we care if you gotta take a whaz Vega!" Jade shouted after her.

Tori ran into the bathroom and directly over to one of the porcelain sinks. Once there, she proceeded to splash several handfuls of cold water on her face, completely ruining the makeup she had so meticulously applied that morning. However, it calmed her nerves enough to where she could think somewhat rationally about the whole situation. She quickly checked under each stall and when she had established that she was alone in the bathroom she took a long look at herself in one of the mirrors.

"Get it together Vega." She growled at the image staring back at her. "Remember what Helen told you, your decision is final. There is no going back or changing your mind."

Tori realized that the girl looking back at her looked desperate and frightened and had tears building up in her eyes. She took several deep breaths before continuing the discussion with herself.

"Remember, they picked you for a reason. Helen wouldn't have asked you to do this if she didn't think you could handle the pressure. I can do this…I CAN DO THIS!" Tori yelled to the silent restroom, letting the slight echo reverberate back to her ears.

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><p>Tori slowly walked up to the address that the text message had given her. It was in a questionable part of town and looked like it belonged to a gigantic abandoned warehouse. She had ridden her bike and it had taken her a little over half an hour to reach the address. Tori had told her parents that she was going out to dinner and a late movie with her friend, having no idea how long this would take. Holly and David Vega seemed to believe her lies and had simply smiled and told her to call if she was going to be later or if she needed them to pick her up.<p>

It didn't take her long to realize that the door to the warehouse was locked, as she tried turning the knob one way and then the other. Tori decided to knock and see if anyone would answer her. She must have knocked on that door for 10 minutes but nobody ever came. Feeling frustrated, Tori was close to giving up and going home.

"Hello…is anyone in there? I got a text telling me to be here at 7:00pm and well...now it's 7:12pm." Tori yelled after quickly looking at the time on her phone.

After attempting to look through the extremely dirty and dusty window at the top of the door, Tori decided to look for a back entrance. After taking a few steps away from the building she suddenly heard a sound from behind her. As she whipped around to see what was causing the sound she felt a sharp pain on her shoulder and then everything went black.

Tori was shocked awake when she felt her head submerged in icy cold water. She could feel that her hands and feet were bound with something, probably rope. She expected whoever's awful idea this was to quickly bring her out of the water. However, after a few moments passed and she wasn't raised from the water, realization set in that whoever was doing this was not bringing her up.

Tori's eyes suddenly widened in fear and she began to scream. The pain of the cold water entering her mouth and eventually her lungs was almost unbearable. After a few more moments of screaming in silent terror she started to feel light headed as the last remaining ounces of oxygen left her lungs.

Just as suddenly as her head had entered the water, Tori felt herself ripped out of it and thrown upright. She discovered that she was tied to an old wooden chair, having both her hands and feet bound to it. She sputtered and coughed up water for a few moments before looking up to find a man and a woman looking down at her. After taking a few deep breaths, Tori was finally able to speak again.

"Who, who are you and why are you trying to kill me?" Tori stuttered,feeling the coldness of the water seeping through to her bones.

The man and woman looked down on her, their faces emotionless before the woman finally spoke.

"Oh sweetie, if we wanted to kill you, we could have done it when we knocked you out."

"We aren't here to kill you, we are here to initiate you into S.T.A.R.S." Continued the sandy haired man to her left.

"So who are you people then?" Tori asked as she began to scan her surroundings, wondering if these people were telling her the truth.

As Tori looked around she could see that she was in a big warehouse...except it wasn't abandoned. There were all different types of equipment centered around the cavernous room. Tori could see a computer terminal set up in one corner and in another she saw row upon row of different types of weapons. Before she could observe any more the raven haired woman, who for some reason reminded her of Jade, spoke again.

"You can consider us your trainers and you are our trainee."

"So if you are supposed to be on my side then why did you almost drown me in that barrell of water over there?" Tori asked furiously, gesturing with her head at the large wooden barrell she had been dunked into.

"Well, the first thing any good trainer does is test out his trainee, to see what his or her strengths and weaknesses are." Answered the man calmly, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"So then why am I still tied up? It looks like I passed your little initation ritual." Tori said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

The man and woman smirked slightly at one another before the woman walked to the other side of the huge room.

"Our organization has a philosophy, we like to call it the Tear em Down, Bring em Up protocol. Essentially, we have to tear you down or break you before we can build you up into a positive asset for our organization."

Tori knew the second he spoke those words that whatever was about to happen to her would not be good. She suddenly started trembling and it wasn't just from the ice cold water she had been in moments before.

Her words came out as a whisper as she asked, "What are you guys going to do to me?"

The man suddenly frowned and turned to work on a machine that looked like one of those heart charger things (A/N, a defibrillator but Tori probably wouldn't know its actual name). After a few minutes, the woman walked back over and whispered something in her partner's ear. The man turned and with sad eyes spoke to Tori.

"This is the part of the job that Kira and I hate the most. It's not like we want to hurt you. But, it has been shown to be effective which is why we have continued to implement it as a form of training."

The woman, Kira, walked over and knelt down next to Tori. She began speaking to Tori in a soothing, almost motherly voice.

"Listen Tori, I have just called your mom and dad and pretended I was Cat Valentine's mother. I asked them if it would be alright if you stayed the weekend with Cat which they tentatively agreed to. They asked if they could drop off your clothes and toiletries and I told them that wouldn't be necessary. I said that Cat was excited to be sharing her clothes and makeup with you and they seemed to think that seemed reasonable.

I have also set it up so that any calls to your cellphone will be patched in to me. We are so sorry for all of the secrecy but it is of the utmost importance that we keep your parents and friends in the dark about your true whereabouts. Tori felt tears welling up in her eyes as she slowly nodded her head in agreement.

"I understand. I'm just really scared." Tori said before completely breaking down. The tears poured down her face as she realized that she had made a huge mistake and she never should have agreed to do this.

"I'm not going to lie to you Tori, this is probably going to be the worst weekend of your life. You are going to hate Joe and I within the hour and at times, you might wish for us to kill you. Please try to understand that we are only following orders. We would never choose to willingly torture a 17 year old girl."

Tori's eyes widened in fear at the word torture as her body was wracked with a new round of tears.

"So, what is the point of all this? Why would you torture someone who you are supposed to be helping?" Tori sobbed as Joe walked up and knelt down next to Kira.

"Because we have to show you the types of things that can and possibly will happen to you in this line of work. In order to create a strong, resilient agent we have to take everything you think you know about yourself and toss it out the window. It is a type of shock therapy and unfortunately, yours has to be done within the span of a weekend."

Kira continued the explanation "Usually, these types of things are spaced out over the span of two weeks or so. However, due to the situation you are in and the neccessity we have for you to begin your training, Joe and I were given the task of breaking you.

"Just know that we are so sorry about all of this." Joe added solemnly as he went to get the heart chargers.

He quickly placed them against Tori, one paddle on her right shoulder and one paddle on her left thigh. It reminded Tori of when she had been electrocuted by Robbie's homemade phone charger only this felt 1000x worse. Tori shrieked in pain as she felt her body being electrocuted.

When Joe suddenly lifted the paddles off her body Tori breathed a sigh of relief. Just as suddenly, Joe put them back on her, only in directly opposite positions to where they had been before. Tori felt as if she was going to pass out from the pain. She honestly wanted to just die right then and there.

As Tori was about to black out she felt a hand grab hers and squeeze hard. It was Kira and she leaned close to Tori and whispered, "C'mon Tori, you can do this, be strong."

Tori was surprised that the simple words and touch of a complete stranger would give her the courage to go on but they did. She realized that there was no stopping this and she could either submit to the pain and allow it to overtake her or fight against it and force herself to grow stronger. The old adage of "whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" popped into her mind. Suddenly, Tori's eyes took on a steely look of dertermination as she gritted her teeth, ready to meet whatever challenge was thrown her way.

No more being scared. No more being nervous. No more being anxious. No more being unsure. No more being frightened. No more being weak. I, Tori Vega am about to be torn down. But I am going to get through this and be stronger because of it and no one will ever make me feel weak again!

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><p><strong>Well, there it was, chapter 4...I hope you all enjoyed it. For those of you wondering about Joe and Kira, they are my own made up characters and they will be playing a part throughout the rest of the story. If you guys were wondering what these two might look like in real life, check out pictures of the actor Sam Worthington (Joe) and Olivia Munn (Kira).<strong>


	5. Building Her Up

**Sorry this chapter took me so long to get out. For that reason, I am making it extra long (also, cause I had a lot to fit into this chapter). Hopefully, this will be the last filler chapter, the optimum word is hopefully! And, I am sorry if there is some grammar or spelling mistakes in this chapter. I proofread it a bunch of times and I am still not sure I got everything to sound the way I wanted. **

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><p>A gray Toyota Prius pulled up three blocks from the Vega residence at 7:00pm on Sunday night. Inside the Prius were Tori Vega and one of her "trainers" Kira.<p>

"Sorry we have to drop you off so far away, but…"

"I know, I know." Tori mumbled, wincing at the sting those four simple words caused her body. She had been given a shot for the pain right before they had left what Joe and Kira called "The Facility." The shot had taken the edge off the pain but Tori still felt like her entire body had been through a blender.

"Here, take these." Kira said, handing her a bottle of what Tori assumed were painkillers. "They should help you deal with the pain and not make you feel too out of it." Tori nodded her head as she gingerly reached out to take the bottle from Kira's outstretched hand.

"No more than 2 every 8 hours. We can't have you overdosing on these pain meds." Kira chuckled slightly as she turned off the ignition and got out of the car. She went around to the back to retrieve Tori's bike which had been shoved into the trunk.

Tori slowly opened her door. Her body hurt all over and her head ached from all of the screaming that Joe and Kira had done. Not only had they hurt her physically but they had also yelled awful things at her, trying to break her spirit along with her body.

Kira reached out a hand to help Tori out of the car. "Now remember, take it as easy as you can. You should be feeling a lot better in about a week or so."

Tori groaned as she thought of going to school and having to silently endure her many injuries. Nothing had been broken and to the naked eye she looked completely fine. However, if one were to look closer, you could see the numerous cuts and bruises all over her body. Kira had used body makeup to cover as much up as she could. Additionally, she and Joe had attempted to stay away from harming Tori's face since they knew she would be returning to her family.

"I wish I could walk with you." Kira sighed as she looked helplessly at the young woman in front of her. Never before had it been so difficult for her to do her job. She knew it was partially because she saw a lot of herself in Tori Vega. When Kira had been plucked from the C.I.A. 6 months ago to join S.T.A.R.S. she felt honored. The government had just pumped tons of money into the program and it was being highly touted as the newest and best way to conduct espionage. Little did she know that her job would entail torturing teenagers.

"You have your Spring Break in two weeks right?" Kira asked Tori as she passed the girl her bicycle.

"Yes." Tori said as she felt her eyelids begin to droop from lack of sleep for the past 48 hours.

"Good. Don't make any plans. You will be spending it at The Facility."

"I really don't think my parents will be okay with me spending my vacation with some woman they have never met."

"Don't worry, I will find a way to get you out of the house. And don't look so glum. The next part of your training is the fun part." Kira said, forcing a smile on her face.

"Whatever you say." Tori whispered as she took her bike and began to walk towards her house.

It took her a lot longer than normal to walk the three blocks to her home. This was probably due to the fact that she was moving at the pace of a snail since her body ached every time she lifted a foot. The whole walk back Tori reflected on the weekend and what she had gone through. She honestly couldn't believe she had survived the hell that Joe and Kira had put her through. It made her feel a little better that Kira had told her that a couple of times she had to leave the building so she wouldn't break down in front of Tori.

As Tori reached her front door, she pasted a smile on her face and forced herself to walk at her usual pace. As she reached for her key to unlock the door it flew open and David Vega looked down at his daughter, unhappiness apparent on his features.

"Where have you been young lady!" He fumed, his voice rising above its usually gentle tone.

"I was at Cat's house dad, you know that." Tori said defensively as she placed her bike on the front porch and walked through the door as if she had done nothing wrong.

"Well, I didn't expect you to get home at 7:30 on Sunday night. Have you even started your homework?" David questioned as he watched his daughter inch her way towards the stairs.

"Of course dad. Cat and I did it yesterday afternoon." Tori said, while internally panicking that she hadn't done her homework. She suddenly remembered that she had taken her school bag with her when she went to her meeting. As she quickly rifled through her bag she saw a note taped to one of her books.

_Got your homework done…I forgot what a bitch Trigonometry is! Joe_

Tori breathed a mental sigh of relief knowing that she had one less thing to worry about. Just as she was about to head up the stairs she heard the back door open.

"I'm glad you're finally home Tori. Your dad and I were getting worried. We thought you might have gotten involved in one of those crazy schemes involving Cat's brother that she is always talking about." Holly Vega stated sternly as she walked in the back door carrying takeout Chinese food cartons. "I have been calling you all day and I just kept getting your voicemail."

"I'm so sorry mom." Tori responded as she quickly tried to think of a good reason for not answering her cell phone. "Cat and I decided to have a movie marathon so we spent the whole day at the movie theater, catching up on all the new releases."

"Well next time you do something like that, you need to check in with us." Holly declared as she gave Tori a serious look. "This is your only warning Tori, we would hate to have to punish you over something so trivial."

"And, I hope you didn't just buy a ticket for the first movie and sneak into the rest of them." David said, looking sternly at his daughter.

"C'mon dad." Tori replied, laughing weakly. "You know I know better than to do that. My father is a police officer. If he ever caught me doing that I would be in so much trouble."

"Ha ha…make fun of the old man because I like to follow the rules." David smirked as he pulled his youngest daughter into a bear hug. Tori almost cried out from the pain of him squeezing her. As David finally let go of her and Holly began to set out the food on the kitchen table, Tori attempted to make her exit from the room. All she wanted was to go upstairs and take a long hot bath, followed by sleep, sleep and more sleep.

"Well…..I think I am going to go take a bath."

"Don't you want any food hon?" Her mom called from the kitchen.

"Not now, Cat and I had a lot of popcorn at the movies. I will grab some later when I get out of the tub."

"Okay, well I am exhausted. Trina dragged me all over the mall today looked for some new shoes by Fazino, Farzani, you know what I am talking about." Holly said. "So, in case I head off to bed early, goodnight. I love you sweetie." She said, walking over and giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek and a hug. "And remember, just let us know what you are up to, we only ask because we care."

"I know mom, I love you too." Tori said. Her eyelids closed as she inhaled the familiar scent of her mother's perfume, causing some of the weekend's trauma to dissipate.

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><p>A week and a half later Tori found herself back at "the warehouse from hell," as she now called it. She couldn't believe that Joe and Kira pulled it off but they had gotten her parents to agree to her spending her spring break at an "acting workshop." She was supposed to be in Palm Springs for the next week and a half, at least that is what Holly and David Vega thought. Needless to say, Trina had been furious when she found out Tori had been invited to the exclusive workshop and she hadn't.<p>

"I cannot believe that they invited you and not me. It must be because they know that I am already beautiful and talented and they think you could use the extra work." Trina reasoned to herself. Tori had just nodded her head and kept her mouth shut, letting Trina continue living in her delusional world.

When Tori had explained her vacation plans to her friends, she had gotten mixed responses.

"Oh Tori, that is so neat. I am so excited for you." Cat squealed before pulling Tori into a big hug.

"Great job girl, you totally deserve it." Andre replied as he too hugged Tori.

"That is so rad cool!" Robbie said, giving Tori a big smile.

"You're going to be the one giving me acting tips when you get back." Beck smirked as he ruffled Tori's hair.

"I'm not surprised, your acting sucks." Jade said coldly before going back to picking off her black nail polish.

"Can I come? Robbie's going to stay with his grandma and she always makes me sleep in the garage." Rex pleaded as Tori rolled her eyes.

Principal Helen had even helped out her cause by coming to the Vega household to discuss how much it would benefit Tori to attend the workshop. She assured the Vega's that an extremely well-respected organization was putting it on and that Tori would be well taken care of throughout her stay.

"Like anything dangerous ever happens in Palm Springs." Helen said, causing the adults to burst into a fit of laughter at the thought of something dangerous happening in one of the most posh areas of California.

"Hey, you made it!" Kira yelled from across the warehouse, snapping Tori out of her thoughts. The warehouse actually had an extremely sophisticated security system. But, someone would never know it if they didn't know what to look for. Tori had to use a special key card followed by a retinal scanner to enter through the front door.

"Yup, I made it." Tori answered resignedly as she dropped her suitcase on the ground and looked around. "So where's Joe?"

"You are just going to be training with me for the next week and a half. Joe has other commitments and plus, you are going to have to toughen up a lot before you can take on Joe." Kira smirked as she quickly perused Tori's clothing and seeing she was fit to begin training, threw her some head gear and a pair of boxing gloves.

"Let's get started with some fight training." Kira pronounced as she led Tori to a makeshift boxing ring where mats covered the floor.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Tori asked as she tried to fasten her head gear to no avail.

"Well, we are going to start with some simple stuff. Like right now, we need to get your stamina up so we are going to do some boxing." Kira said as she helped Tori adjust her head gear and get her boxing gloves on.

"So what, you don't even teach me anything? You just…oommpphh" Tori said as she felt herself fall to the ground. "Owwwwwwwwwww!" Tori yelled as she clutched at her sore jaw.

"You could have at least told me we were starting." Tori said angrily as she stood up and faced Kira.

"Your first and most important rule to learn Tori is to always be prepared. Do you think your enemy is going to tell you when they are going to attack you? You have to become constantly aware of everything going on around you. Your guard must be up at all times, even when you are asleep." Kira said as she gave Tori a somber look.

"When I'm asleep but…hey!" Tori yelled as she quickly jumped out of the way of Kira's oncoming punch.

"See, you were prepared that time. You knew not to trust me to just stand here and talk to you."

As the two women danced around one another, Kira throwing jabs and Tori attempting to throw jabs, Tori questioned Kira. "So, how did you get stuck with this job? I'm sure you would rather be out there, actually doing what you are teaching me."

"I've been out there for the past 10 years. I needed a break, a chance to stay in my own country for more than two weeks." Kira answered as she swung at Tori and connected with her stomach.

Having the wind knocked out of her, Tori fell to her knees, clutching her ribcage. She was sweating and taking in huge gulps of air, trying to get her breath back. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that." She groaned as she slowly got to her feet. "How long do we have to keep doing this for?"

As Kira looked down at her watch she quickly realized her mistake as Tori took the opportunity to punch her directly in the nose. As blood started to stream out of Kira's nose, Tori quickly threw off her boxing gloves and ran over.

"I am so, so sorry, I was just trying to distract you long enough to get in a punch and…"

"It's okay Tori. It was actually a really smart play which I cannot believe I fell for." Kira said as she held her nose and elevated her head. "There is a refrigerator over there in the corner." Kira said, pointing to an area south of where they stood. "Could you grab me an ice pack from the freezer?"

"Yes, of course." Tori cried as she hurried over to the refrigerator. She quickly brought the ice pack back to Kira, along with some paper towels she found sitting on a nearby table.

"You pack a pretty strong right hook Miss Tori Vega." Kira smirked as she stuck some paper towels up her nose before putting the ice pack on top of it.

"Thanks." Tori replied sheepishly as she looked down at her toes. "So, how long does this whole training process last for? Am I allowed to ask that? If I'm not you don't have to answer." Tori declared hurriedly, not wanting to get herself, or Kira, in trouble.

Kira laughed as she watched Tori work herself into a fluster over a simple question. "Yes Tori, you can ask me that question. Usually, people train for years before they are allowed to take their field test. However, the U.S. government has developed something that we are hoping will help speed up the training process to where it will only take about 6 months."

"What kind of thing…it isn't some weird chip that I have to have inserted in my brain is it?" Tori exclaimed anxiously.

"Well….no, not exactly." Kira answered. She slowly got up and walked towards a part of the warehouse that Tori assumed must be the "technological" part of The Facility. She retrieved a box from within a storage locker and began the long process of opening it. Tori guessed she must have used about seven different pass codes, followed by a handprint and retinal scanner. Finally, after what felt like was an hour, the box unlocked and Kira grabbed something out of it.

"This is what we call "The Dream Maker." Kira said as she held up what looked like an elaborate type of gun.

"Oookkkaaayyy…and what exactly does this thing do?" Tori asked as she nervously eyed the thing Kira was holding.

Kira looked at Tori anxiously as she replied. "Now, don't freak out but, it injects a chip into your spinal cord, at the base of your neck." Tori's eyes grew wide and she started to unconsciously back away from her trainer.

"You are not putting that thing anywhere near my neck." She pronounced.

"Jesus Tori, you think I would just forcefully inject you with something? Remember, I am on your side." Kira said as she sat down at a nearby table. "This piece of technology I am holding has been in development for over 25 years and if it does what it is supposed to do, we can make you one hell of an agent in a very short time period."

"Well no, I didn't think you were going to just inject me, it's just that I saw you holding that thingy and…" Tori allowed her sentence to remain unfinished as she forced herself to calm down. After a few moments, she walked over to the table and sat down next to Kira.

"So, tell me what exactly this thing is supposed to do?" Tori asked expectantly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"The main function that this chip serves is as a mind and body enhancer. Whenever you are learning a new skill, your body is sending messages to your brain that cause it to remember different aspects of what you have learned. This chip just speeds up the learning process. It sends different impulses to your brain and your body that allow for a quicker understanding and better retention of things learned, both physical and mental. Additionally, these chemicals help your brain retain that information and send it back to your body in a quicker and more efficient manner. This allows for less time spent teaching someone how to perform a skill."

"Ummmmm, exsqueeze me! I have no idea what you are talking about!" Tori replied as she banged her head on the table out of frustration.

"Okay, let me try a different way of explaining it." Kira said while trying to think of a good example. "You've heard of people who have a photographic memory, right?" Kira asked as Tori nodded her head in the affirmative.

"This chip makes allows for anyone to have a photographic memory. But unlike photographic memory where there are limitations on what you will remember, with this chip there are no limitations. You can remember as much information about as many things as possible." Kira said looking at a still very confused Tori Vega.

"Omigosh!" Kira exclaimed as she suddenly had a thought. "You've seen the show "Chuck" on TV right?" Tori nodded her head unsurely as Kira continued. "You know how Chuck has that thing in his head, the intersect? That is almost exactly like what this chip can do! The only difference is that the chip isn't implanted with any information, you have to learn everything yourself. Once something is learned though, the chip retains all of the information and allows your brain to access it whenever needed."

Tori's mouth fell open as she remembered what exactly the intersect allowed for Chuck Bartowski to become…a super spy!

"So, if I get this chip implanted in my neck, whenever I learn something I will remember it?" Tori asked.

"Technically, the chip will remember it but pretty much, that is the gist of it. There is a lot more that goes into it but it is all technical jargon that even I don't understand. Gone is all of the time it takes to teach someone how to correctly shoot a gun. With this chip, once I teach you the correct way, you will remember it and our job will just be to translate what you know into actual performance."

"So then why does it even take 6 months to train someone? If you could just show them the right way to do something and then they would automatically be able to remember it? Wouldn't you be able to get a person trained within a few days?" Tori questioned.

"Training isn't all about knowing how to do something. It is about knowing how to do it well. Just because your brain can tell you how to disassemble a Beretta M9, doesn't mean that your body will allow you to do it perfectly. That is why it still takes some time. We have to build up your endurance, strength, stamina, etc. Essentially, we have to catch your body up with your brain." Kira smirked.

"So, do I have a choice or do I have to do this?" Tori asked Kira, a look of extreme anxiety etched across her delicate features.

"I would love to say you have a choice but you kind of don't. If you are going to be field ready in the amount of time we need you, the only way you will get there is through having the chip implantation."

Suddenly, a loud voice boomed from the front of the warehouse, "This is the point where you can leave the program, if you want." Tori looked up to see Helen standing right inside the front door. Her eyes widened as the larger than life woman walked towards where she and Kira sat.

"I thought you said that there was no changing my mind, no backing out." Tori asked as she eyed Helen skeptically.

"I know what I said honey. Listen, you have made it a lot farther than most potential agents." Doubt crossed Tori's face at those words as she remembered that weekend not too long ago.

"Most people don't get through the first weekend." Helen said, seeming to know Tori's thoughts. "The trainers have the right to stop their actions if they feel that the trainee cannot handle anymore. Kira seemed to know that you could make it all the way. Joe wasn't so sure but she must have changed his mind or you wouldn't be back in The Facility right now."

Tori looked over and met Kira's eyes. The half American/half Chinese woman gave her a small smile and nodded her head in agreement with Helen's words.

"I know I said that there was no changing your mind but this is your last real chance." Helen said before pausing for a moment.

"Tori, we cannot force you to have that chip implanted. But, if you choose not to than you are automatically out of the program. I picked you for this because of your ability to think outside the box. You are a problem solver, quick thinking and able to adapt easily to a lot of different situations. In my opinion, you could be a real force to be reckoned with but you have to make the decision first. To chip or not to chip, that is the question." Helen uttered, chuckling slightly at her joke as Tori and Kira rolled their eyes.

Tori pondered her decision for a few moments. "Are there any bad side effects?" She asked, looking back and forth between the two women.

"Occasionally they malfunction." Kira answered which earned her a glare from Helen. "Well, she has a right to know." Kira retorted to the woman's silent command to keep her mouth shut.

"We have had a couple of instances where people have gotten hurt due to these malfunctions but the chance of that happening is very slight. We hope you agree that the small risk is more than worthwhile for the rewards you will gain from the implantation." Helen stated as she attempted to give Tori a somewhat motherly smile.

"Well, it doesn't sound like I have much of a choice. This thing can be taken out after it is implanted, right?"

"Of course, you would have to have a minor surgery to remove it, but it most definitely can be removed."

"Oh god…I hope this is the right thing to do." Tori pondered aloud as she furrowed her brow and looked up at Helen.

"Okay, let's do this." Tori said with finality in her voice

"You made the right choice honey." Helen said as a sly smile crossed her face. Finally noticing that Kira had paper towels stuffed up her nose, Helen grew concerned.

"Kira baby, what happened to your nose?"

"Tori got in a good punch. I don't think it's broken though." Kira said as she gingerly felt the top of her nose. She then stood up and proceeded to walk around to the back of Tori's chair.

"Now Tori, I'm not gonna lie to you, this is going to hurt like a bitch. You should probably pull your hair up so I've got a very clear target."

Tori pulled her hair into a high bun with the rubber band she always kept around her wrist. She tried to keep her nerves under control but she felt herself begin to tremble violently at the thought of what was about to happen.

"Helen, can you hold her shoulders? She is shaking and I have to get this precisely right." Kira said as she sprayed a numbing agent on the black X she had made at the base of Tori's neck.

"Ahhhhh, cold." Tori whimpered at the sudden rush of cold wetness on her neck. Helen scooted the table over and went to stand in front of Tori. She placed her hands on the girl's shoulders and put pressure down in order to stop Tori's body from shaking so badly.

"Okay Tori." Kira said as she lined up the machine. "At the count of three I am going to inject you, okay?" Tori couldn't find her voice to speak so she simply nodded her head.

"**One**."

Maybe I should just tell them I change my mind, that I cannot do this. Tori questioned in her mind.

"**Two**."

Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into? Tori thought, truly beginning to panic.

"**Three**."

Before she could get a word out she felt something pierce the base of her neck and what felt like a screwdriver being jabbed into her. And that is when Tori Vega passed out.

A few minutes passed before Tori awoke. She opened her eyes to see Kira and Helen standing over her.

"How do you feel Tori?" Kira asked, obviously concerned over Tori's well-being.

"I guess I'm okay." Tori replied as she slowly sat up from the cot she had been placed on in her unconsciousness. Reaching up to touch the base of her neck, she flinched when her fingers brushed over the extremely tender area. She also felt the small lump where the chip was located.

"So that's it, you're done." Helen said brightly as she went to pick up her purse from the table nearby. "Well, I have other candidates to see so I'm off." Helen said before turning and walking to the door. "I'm proud of you baby girl." She called as she turned and grinned one more time at her newest agent.

"Thanks, I guess." Tori moaned, feeling her neck begin to throb where the chip had been implanted. "Is it going to feel like this forever?" She whined to Kira.

"No, the soreness should go away within a couple of days. Quit being such a baby." Kira teased Tori as she replaced "The Dream Maker" and relocked the box.

"Now, let's see if that little fucker works!" Kira exclaimed excitedly as she pulled Tori up from the table and back towards the training area.

Cue awesome training montage where Tori learns how to use all different types of weapons, how to speak numerous languages, how to fight using many styles of martial arts and all kinds of other cool things!

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><p><strong>So Chapter 5…what did you guys think? I am getting ready to go out of town from March 24<strong>**th**** through April 2****nd**** and I won't have access to a computer. I am going to try to get at least one more chapter done before I leave though. And as always, read and review!**


	6. The Final Exam

**Thank you all so much for reviewing and putting alerts on my story and myself. It seriously makes me so happy whenever I get that email that says I have a new review or alert. So, I hope you really like this chapter because I had the best time writing it...Enjoy! I'm sorry if the spelling or grammar is not up to snuff, I really wanted to get this done before I left on my trip. Thus, this was rushed through my editing process a little more quickly than usual. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own nothin. ;)**

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><p><strong>6 months later<strong>

A lot had changed for Tori over the last six months. She was not the same naive, innocent girl she still portrayed on a daily basis. It had become more and more difficult to keep up the act of being Tori Vega; the happy-go-lucky girl who dreamed of being a pop star.

Over the course of the past six months Tori had evolved both physically and mentally. She could now fluently speak 7 different languages. She also knew how to handle almost any type of weapon you put in her hands, from a simple knife to an extremely complex rocket launcher. She knew 15 different ways to kill a man, using only her bare hands. Whether she wanted it to happen or not, that kind of knowledge changed everything about Tori Vega.

As she leaned her head back against the wall of the van she was riding in, Tori reflected back on what she had been through over the course of the last few months. For the remainder of the school year she had shuttled from home directly to school and then directly to training every single day. Weekends were also spent training and she was lucky if she got one day off a month to actually spend with her friends or family. Of course, people questioned where she was going all of the time and why she didn't have time to help Andre write new songs or bake cupcakes with Cat.

At first Tori would make up simple excuses. She had to go shopping with her mom or she was taking a dance class. After a few weeks of declining invitations, one by one, her friends stopped involving her in their plans. She still sat with them at lunch and hung out with them at school, but everyone could tell that Tori's mind was constantly elsewhere. Whenever Andre or Cat attempted to get her to open up to them, Tori would always make an excuse and quickly leave the scene. She hated lying to her friends but there was no other way.

It was even tougher lying to her parents. Her constant excuse was that she was studying at someone's house. This excuse, though plausible, quickly began to wear thin on Holly and David Vega, once two weeks had gone by without them eating one meal with their youngest daughter. Tori knew that it was time to come up with a long-term realistic reason for her to be away from her home so much.

Luckily, Joe and Kira had thought of an explanation that they hoped would be believable to both her friends and family. So, Tori began to tell people "the truth." She had gotten a job at a mall an hour away in order to save up money to buy her own car. Everyone wondered why she would keep something like that a secret. She had explained that it was because she hadn't wanted Trina to find out. Tori knew that her friends and parent's would believe that she didn't want her big sister constantly coming up to the department store she worked for and bugging her for discounts and such. And thus, the lie was born that Tori worked for a Macy's in Glendale, CA.

"You guys realize that my parents are going to expect me to come home with a car at the end of the summer, right?" Tori questioned Kira.

"Don't worry about it Tori. It will be taken care of." Kira would always assure her whenever the "car" subject was brought up.

For the first three months, Tori solely trained with Kira. The two got along very well and became close friends. As time went on Tori learned that Kira was 33 (even though she didn't look a day over 25), single and the youngest and only daughter in a family of three. She had been going to M.I.T., majoring in both computer science and chemical engineering, when the C.I.A. had come calling. Tori learned that Kira regretted not graduating from college and that she hoped to one day finish her degree.

Kira liked to say that her specialties were weapons and technology. She could operate any kind of weapon known to man. Additionally, she could hack into almost any computer system in the world. She had even gotten into the C.I.A.'s system on more than one occasion, when she was testing out the government's firewalls. Tori liked to think of Kira as a huge nerd in the body of a swimsuit model.

One day, in the middle of June, Tori walked into The Facility to find Joe sitting at a computer terminal, furiously typing something.

"Joe? What are you doing here and where's Kira?" Tori questioned.

"It's nice to see you too Tori." Joe teased as he finished his typing and stood up to greet her.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to say that I didn't want to see you…" Tori began.

"It's okay, I was just kidding. Kira and I are going to start alternating weeks training you. She has some other commitments and felt that I would be better able to train you in certain skills."

"Well, okay, I guess." Tori stuttered. For some strange reason, Joe made her extremely nervous. Tori quickly learned that he was much more serious than Kira and that he was a perfectionist in everything he did, including training her. Tori didn't know how many times she had to practice a Roundhouse Kick or a Scissors Choke, but she knew her body always felt like mush by the end of a day of training with Joe.

Joe would say that his specialties were hand-to-hand combat, camouflage and medical skills. Tori finally understood why the man made her nervous when she learned that he had been a member of one of the world's most elite military units, the Navy Seals. Before joining the military, he had been a pre-med student at Yale on a full-ride rowing scholarship. A serious shoulder injury had caused him to lose his scholarship during his Junior year. His family couldn't afford to put him through school, so Joe joined the military, hoping they would pay for him to finish college one day. After being with the Seals for five years, Joe was asked to come in and interview to become an agent with the F.B.I. He was 36 years old, married, with a five and a half year old son and a three year old daughter.

Joe is the one that taught Tori how to kill a man using nothing but her hands. One day, she asked him how many people he had killed.

"You don't want to know." Joe somberly replied.

Over time, Tori realized that she was lucky that the majority of her shirts were made of flowy, loose materials. Within a month of training with Joe, Tori had gained some major muscle all over her body. It didn't really change her figure but she knew if her friends ever saw her newly acquired six-pack, they would flip out. In six months time, Tori became stronger, faster and more confidant in her abilities than she ever would have thought possible.

True to their word, Joe and Kira took care of her car problem. On the last official day of summer, Tori came to The Facility to find Joe and Kira with big smiles on their faces. They took her to the back of the huge area and raised one of the motorized doors. Outside was a sky blue Volkswagen Beetle with a big red bow on the hood. Tori screamed joyfully as she ran outside to take a closer look at her new wheels.

"Omigosh, omigosh…I cannot believe you guys did this! Thank you so much! I just love it! Tori exclaimed so rapidly that Joe and Kira could hardly understand what she was saying.

"This is in appreciation for how hard you have worked all summer. And, to keep up your cover story, of course. It's not really from us, it's from S.T.A.R.S. Joe stated stoically.

Tori ran up to her two trainers and threw her arms around them, pulling them in for a giant group hug. Kira gladly returned Tori's hug. Even Joe had a smile on his face as he too returned the hug of the girl he originally didn't think would make it through the first weekend. How wrong he had been!

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><p>"We're here." Kira declared, snapping Tori out of her reverie. They had pulled up next to a random coffee shop in the middle of Los Angeles. Tori furrowed her brow as she wondered what was planned for her field test. She never expected for it to begin at a coffee shop. She suddenly recalled the second most important rule of espionage, "Expect the Unexpected."<p>

Joe turned around from the driver's seat to face Tori. "This is it kid, your final exam." Joe said seriously. "This is your make it or break it moment." At those words, Tori felt her nerves kick into high gear and she began tapping her foot impatiently on the van floor.

"And what exactly am I supposed to do for this final exam?" Tori asked, zipping up her black leather jacket and double knotting her black combat boots. Her hair was slicked back into a low ponytail and she had on black, tight-fitting jeans and a black turtleneck underneath her jacket. Tori had once questioned Kira about the over usage of black by people in the espionage field. Kira's response was that it may be cliché but if you are conducting a mission at night black tends to be the best camouflage.

Joe cleared his throat before continuing. "Inside that coffee shop is a possible threat to our government's security. This morning, the Department of Defense was hacked into and certain information that is critical to our government's safety was stolen." Joe explained.

Kira continued, "It is believed that whoever stole this information plans to sell it to the highest bidder. We received intelligence this morning confirming that an exchange will go down sometime tonight. We just aren't sure where or when this meeting will take place."

"Your mission is to intercept that exchange and retrieve the case, using whatever force necessary." Joe finished as Kira handed Tori a small black case that had been sitting on her lap for the duration of the ride.

"Inside this case is everything you will need to complete your mission. When you complete your mission, you will become a full-fledged member of S.T.A.R.S. Failure is not an option." Kira pronounced sternly while looking at Tori.

"I understand. I won't let you down." Tori replied as she grabbed the case, nodded at Joe and Kira and stepped out of the van. She immediately ran to the back of the coffee shop, quickly finding a nearby dumpster to hide behind. She opened the case to find an unloaded gun, a clip and an earpiece. She quickly stuffed the little gadget into her left ear and pushed down on it to see if it was working.

"Testing, testing…this is agent Tori Vega, awaiting response."

"Agent Vega, we read you loud and clear." Kira's voice answered through the ear piece. "Now hold until we give you further instructions."

Tori had learned that this is how missions worked. Normally, there were two field agents and one person who served as backup/technical support. This person was in charge of the technology would be in a stationary position, usually using numerous computers to track the field agents and their respective targets. These agents were called "controls" and would have access to all kinds of information that a field agent couldn't see or hear. Thus, the field agents had to rely on their "Big Brother's," as Joe liked to mockingly call them, to lead them through the ins and outs of missions.

Suddenly, Kira's voice came through the earpiece. "Vega, your target is on the move. He turned south out of the coffee shop and is on foot."

"I will now begin pursuit of suspect." Tori replied, as she threw the case in the dumpster, loaded the gun and stowed it in her jacket pocket. She swiftly started making her way around the building, looking for her mark. Tori subtly pushed down on her earpiece to ask for more specific information.

"I need target's appearance, stat!" Tori whispered as she tried to keep a casual pace, while quickly scanning the throngs of people around her. It was a Saturday night, so people were out and about and the streets were crowded with people going to dinner or out on the town.

"Suspect is male, average build, 6 feet, dark hair, wearing a gray peacoat, dark colored slacks and a black beanie."

Tori quickly spotted the man about a block ahead of her and she silently began to follow him. She continued to stay one to two blocks behind him at all times, far enough so he wouldn't suspect anyone was following him. After walking for a few minutes down the crowded sidewalks of downtown LA, Tori observed her target get into a green Ford Taurus that was parked on the street, outside of an Italian restaurant.

"Shit!" Tori whispered before pressing on her earpiece. "Target is not on foot anymore! Agent requests backup in order to pursue." Tori quickly uttered, not taking her eyes off the green car that was slowly driving away from her position.

"Negative, Agent Vega. Backup is five minutes out. You must find other mode of transport." Kira stoically stated to a wide-eyed Tori. As Tori was frantically looking around, unsure of what to do she heard Kira speak again.

"Tori, you can do this! Remember your training, you know what to do." Kira said, sensing Tori's apprehension.

Keeping the car in her peripheral vision, Tori looked around for any mode of transportation she could find. Finally seeing a motorcycle parked in an alleyway next to the restaurant, Tori made a speedy decision and ran over to the bike. As she ripped off the engine cover and looked for the correct wires to hotwire the motorcycle she internally apologized to the owner of the bike. The engine suddenly roared to life and so Tori quickly climbed aboard. Afraid that she might have already lost her target, she pulled into the oncoming traffic, praying that she would not be hit by a car. Luck was with her as she swerved to miss the cars going through the intersection.

Once she had had been safely absorbed into the traffic, she began hurriedly scanned nearby cars. She started to panic as she didn't see any trace of the green Ford. Suddenly, Tori spotted a quick flash of green as she saw the car turning left at a traffic light a half mile ahead of her. She gunned the engine and sped through the gridlocked traffic, thanking her lucky stars that she had found the motorcycle. Tori knew that it would take her too long to wait patiently in line for the left turn signal and she could already see the Taurus speeding away down the street.

"Oh god, please don't let me die." Tori yelled as she suddenly swerved the bike left, down an alleyway that she hoped would end somewhere in the vicinity of her target. She had narrowly avoided getting hit by three oncoming lanes of traffic and in her wake she left cars honking and people throwing her a certain finger. Tori finally came to the end of the alleyway and upon further examination, discovered that the Taurus was only a few blocks ahead of her. With a sigh of relief, Tori looked both ways before safely pulling into traffic and proceeding to stealthily pursue her target.

As Tori followed the man at a safe distance, she could see he was leading her to the outskirts of the city. The wind whipping by her made contacting Kira and Joe impossible. The further away from the city they got, the further away Tori was forced to stay from the green Ford. She didn't want to give the man any reason to suspect he was being followed, so by the time he finally slowed down and pulled into a remote shipping yard, Tori was over two miles behind him.

When she saw the car turn into the shipping yard, Tori quickly pulled over to the side of the road. Untwisting the wires she had used to start the motorcycle, the engine quickly cut off as Tori hopped off the bike and began to jog towards her destination. She stayed on the side of the road, in the overgrown grass, to better disguise herself. The only sounds were of her boots hitting the grass as she slowly approached the enclosed area. Quickly scaling the chain link fence meant to keep out any trespassers, Tori quietly dropped to the ground and ran for cover to a nearby shipping container. She took her gun out of her pocket as she scanned her surroundings while contacting Kira and Joe.

"This is agent Vega. I am at an old shipping yard, an hour northwest of my prior location. I will send you the coordinates immediately." Tori stated as she quickly pulled out her pearphone to find her exact location.

"That will not be necessary agent Vega. We already have your position and are in pursuit. We should be at your location within 15 minutes."

"Understood." Tori replied as slid along the side of the container, looking for any sign of the man she was pursuing. She could faintly hear the sound of voices coming from what seemed to be the center of the yard. Tori silently made her way towards the voices, trying to make out what they were saying.

"My boss is going to be very pleased with your work." A deep male voice declared.

"And I am very pleased with the money your boss is giving me." A slightly higher and extremely raspy male voice countered.

"Please let them give up easily, please let them give up easily." Tori silently chanted. The thought of having to shot and/or kill someone made her sick to her stomach. She prayed that she wouldn't be put in that type of situation anytime in the near future, if ever. So lost was Tori in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the rock she was about to trip over. Before she could stop herself, Tori banged into one of the large, metal containers.

"Oh shit, you were followed!" The deep voice yelled as Tori could hear two sets of footsteps running in different directions.

"Awwwwww man!" Tori cried as she righted herself. She sprinted around the container only to see the dust left from the two men's footsteps.

"Agent Vega here…target knows he is being pursued….Kira, what do I do?" Tori asked, her tone exhibiting the urgency of her situation.

"Remember Vega, your priority is the case. Whoever has it, follow him!" Kira's worried voice replied.

One set of footprints looked like it belonged to a rather large man whom Tori guessed was the man with the deep voice. That meant that the other set must belong to her original target. She didn't think she had heard anything to indicate that the information had already been exchanged, so Tori followed her hunch and took off after her original target.

The footprints weaved in and out amongst the shipping containers. Tori could hear the sound of footsteps up ahead and she knew she was closing in on her target. Suddenly, Tori heard the sound of feet scrapping against metal. She deduced that the man must have climbed on top of a shipping container and was now traveling on top of them. The loud banging of the man's shoes on the metal made it easy to follow him. However, while the man had a straight shot to his destination, Tori had to weave her way through the intricate maze that the shipping containers created. She finally got a visual on her target when she saw him running across the containers, getting closer to his intended goal with each step. She saw that he still carried the silver case and realized that if she didn't do something quickly, he would be gone.

Tori quickly aimed her gun and fired at the man. His back was to her but she heard him yelp at the sound of the bullet hitting metal a few inches away from his right foot. Her plan worked as he took off in a different direction than his originally intended. Tori continued to weave her way out of the maze and she finally made it to her target's original destination. Running over to his car, she pulled the handle only to discover that the car was unlocked. Upon further examination, she saw that the keys were left on the dashboard.

"Seriously!" Tori yelled aloud, chuckling slightly at the man's obvious stupidity.

She quickly got in and started the car, placing her gun on the seat next to her. Knowing what she had to do, Tori took a deep breath as she put on her seat belt. Putting the car in drive, she stomped on the gas pedal as hard as she could as she aimed for her target. He was trying so hard to evade his potential captor that he didn't even notice when his car pealed out and took off in his direction. Tori instinctively closed her eyes as she felt the car impact the shipping containers, causing it and the ones around it to overturn.

"Ahhhhhh!" Tori yelled as she felt the hot steam from the airbag deploying hit her face. She hurriedly unbuckled her seat belt and shoved open the car door, thankful that all she had were a few minor cuts and bruises. As she rushed around the shipping containers she saw the man slightly ahead of her, limping along due to what Tori guessed was a sprained ankle. Tori raised her gun and pointed it at the back of the man's head.

"Okay buddy, enough's enough, hands in the air! In case you can't tell, I have a gun pointed at the back of your head and I will use it if necessary!" Tori demanded as she walked towards her target. The man slowly dropped the case and put his hands on top of his head.

"Now turn around, slowly." Tori stated as she came within a few feet of the mysterious man.

As the man turned to face her, Tori's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock. She was staring down the barrel of her gun at a very familiar face.

"Beck!"

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><p><strong>DUN, DUN, DUN! Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger but I am evil like that (cue evil laughter sound). Were you surprise at finding out the identity of Tori's target? Did I do a good job of keeping you guessing? For those of you who guessed this was Beck before the final reveal, great job! Now we need to find out what is going on with Beck! So sorry to do this but like I said in my last chapter, I am going to be out of town until April 2. I am hoping to get at least one chapter written while I am gone, so hopefully I will have something for you shortly after I return. Until then, speculate and review!<strong>


	7. Who Are You?

**A/N: I am so sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long. I came home from my trip to a messed up computer and I had to wait a few days for my husband to take the time to fix it. I hope you will find this chapter worth your wait! Also, I am sure you will notice that this chapter is quite a bit shorter than my previous ones. Well, I am taking the advice of my friend TheTenderness10 and making my chapters shorter. Don't worry; there will still be the same amount of content, it will just be in the form of a lot of short chapters! I think that if I make them shorter, I will be able to update more often and they will be somewhat easier for me to write. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious, never have, never will!**

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><p>"Tori?" Beck yelped as his eyes widened in shock at learning that his pursuer was none other than Tori Vega. Without thinking, Beck automatically began to take a step towards his friend, forgetting that she held a gun pointed directly at his head.<p>

"Hold it Beck!" Tori yelled, stopping Beck mid-stride. "Don't come any closer!"

"Tori, what are you doing here?" Beck questioned, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that it really was Tori standing in front of him. He attempted to take another step forward, hoping to disarm her without having to actually hurt her.

"Stay where you are Beck!" Tori demanded, praying that he wouldn't notice her hands trembling. "I don't know what you are doing here or who you are mixed up with but I know people that can help you. All you have to do is give me the case." Tori pleaded.

"You know I can't do that Tori." Beck replied as he gripped the case tighter in his left hand.

Tori felt a lone tear begin to run down her cheek as she recalled her orders to retrieve the case using whatever force necessary.

"Beck please, I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't." Beck said, plastering his signature smirk on his face. "C'mon Tori, you know you don't want to hurt me." His tone was almost playful, as if they were back at Hollywood Arts, sitting around the table eating lunch.

Tori felt a tightening in her chest as she realized what Beck was attempting to do. He was using their friendship and his knowledge that Tori found him extremely attractive (as did every girl at H.A.) against her. He thought he could just flirt his way out of this. At one time, when she first came to Hollywood Arts, Tori had harbored a huge crush on Beck. But, after seeing how devoted he and Jade were to one another and developing a close friendship with him and a certain level of tolerance for Jade, those feelings had mostly dissipated. She now thought of him only as her really hot guy friend...wait, that sounds really bad...as her really attractive guy friend...no, wait!

Amused, Beck watched Tori's internal argument for a few moments before realizing that this was the perfect opportunity to overpower her and escape. He felt horrible taking advantage of Tori's well, Toriness, but this was his only shot at getting out of here without having to seriously injure or kill The beautiful Latina. He slowly and subtlety began to inch forward; never taking his eyes off the face of the girl he knew was internally struggling.

Unbeknownst to Beck, Tori was not the same bumbling schoolgirl she had been 6 months ago. While she still found herself attracted to him, she had made her decision the second she had chosen to have that chip implanted in her neck. What Beck didn't realize is that she had been acting extremely flustered to buy her some more time while she formulated a plan of attack that wouldn't result in having to shoot him.

When Tori saw Beck begin to slowly inch forward, she felt both agitation and anger towards her friend. Did he really think so little of her that he assumed he could turn on the Oliver charm and she would just drop the gun and fall to her knees! Okay Beck, Tori thought to herself; let's see how much of a wimp you really think I am.

"Do you really think that I can't see you moving towards me?" Tori asked with a roll of her eyes. This announcement stopped Beck in his tracks as he came to the realization that maybe he had underestimated Tori Vega.

"C'mon Tori, you and I both know you don't have it in you to shoot someone, least of all me." Beck stated as he cautiously took another step forward, bringing himself within an arm's length of Tori.

"Sorry Beck." Tori replied as she quickly drew her leg back before slamming it directly into Beck's hurt ankle. This took him completely by surprise as he cried out in pain and fell onto his back with a hard thud.

"But you don't know me at all anymore." Tori scoffed as she reached down and retrieved the case. Beck winced in pain as he attempted to get up.

"You can't do this Tori! You don't know what's in that case!" He yelled as she started to slowly back away from him. Tori kept her eyes and her gun trained to her newfound enemy as she paused at his words.

"You're right Beck. I don't know what's in this case. But, I do know that now you and your terrorist friends won't be able to use it to hurt our country and that's good enough for me."

"Terrorist friends?" Beck questioned, looking at her as if she had just said that you could juice a potato.

As Tori was about to respond, she suddenly heard the sound of applause. She and Beck quickly turned their heads towards the sound and saw Helen, Joe and Kira walk out from behind an overturned shipping container.

"Congratulations Agent Vega, you have just passed your field test." Helen's voice boomed above the sound of the applause. Kira had a big smile on her face while Joe was smirking slightly, as if he was amused at the evening's events.

Realization quickly dawned on Beck and he too grinned broadly at Tori while pulling himself into a sitting position. Tori however was still confused. She knew she had passed her field test but she didnt understand what role Beck played in all of this and why he was suddenly smiling at her. As far as Tori was concerned, he was still the enemy. She glanced over to where her three superiors stood, wondering why none of them seemed bothered by the fact that a known associate of terrorists was sitting before them.

"Hold it Oliver!" Tori shouted as she quickly walked back over to Beck, pointing her gun between his eyes.

"Whoa Tori, slow down. Beck isn't the bad guy." Helen stated as Tori kept her eyes trained to Beck. Joe and Kira made their way over to where Tori and Beck were respectively standing and sitting. Joe bent down and slung Beck's arm over his shoulder, helping him to stand up.

"Lower your weapon Agent Vega." Kira said as she came to stand next to Tori. She made no move to lower her gun, instead keeping it focused on the space between Beck's eyes.

Tori had finally reached her breaking point. All of the months of training and being away from her friends and family while constantly having to put on an act when she was allowed to spend time with them had truly exhausted her. Now, discovering that one of her best friends had betrayed her, had betrayed his country was just too much for Tori to comprehend.

"Why Kira?" Tori asked through gritted teeth. With Beck finally back on his feet, she was able to get a good look at his face again. This time she saw no mirth or amusement in his eyes, just pure fear. Tori knew she should listen to Kira, but it was like she had no control over her body. As much as she tried, she could not lower her gun.

"Tori, please don't do anything crazy. I promise you, I'm not your enemy." Beck pleaded, seeing the anger and hurt in his friend's eyes.

"Then who are you Beck because you sure as hell aren't who I thought you were?" Tori spit at the young man.

"You better calm yourself down already missy! Don't make me regret passing you on this field exam!" Helen commanded, walking over to them and prying the gun out of Tori's hand.

"I was going to wait until we got back to The Facility to tell you both, but I guess I better go ahead and tell you now before Agent Vega does something stupid." Helen declared.

"Tori Vega, meet your new partner at S.T.A.R.S…Beck Oliver."

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><p><strong>Well, what did you think? Did you like it, hate it or totally predict this turn of events? Let me know in your reviews and also, please let me know if you like the shorter chapter format. I really do value all of your opinions, so please everyone…review! Also, I don't know if anyone picked up on my little Easter Egg about the potato juice but it is from one of Cat's Slap Videos…look it up, it's hilarious!<strong>


	8. Partners

**A/N: I don't know what to say...I am so sorry for taking two weeks to update again! I suck, I admit it! I really hope you guys enjoy the chapter, especially since it was so long in coming. This chapter isn't very action packed but it will start to establish Beck and Tori working as a team. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, never have, never will. **

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><p>The ride back to The Facility was silent for the most-part. Finally unable to stand the tension any longer, Tori decided to talk to her new partner.<p>

"So…." She began before letting the word trail off into nothingness.

"Yeah, so…." Beck agreed as he slowly raised his eyes from the floor of the van to meet Tori's.

"…I'm really sorry that I almost shot you!" Tori blurted out before she could stop herself. Beck's eyebrows furrowed at her statement and he seemed to be thinking of how to respond to her apology.

"Um, it's okay, just don't let it happen again." He replied with mock formality. Realizing that Beck wasn't completely livid with her, Tori relaxed. She thought back to their encounter and suddenly burst into a fit of giggles.

"You should have seen your face when you first saw me." Tori said in between her giggles which were getting louder and louder. "You looked like you were about to shit your pants." At this, Tori completely lost all control and started laughing full out.

"Well, it's not like you looked like Miss Fucking America when you saw me Tori." Beck said sarcastically, before starting to chuckle himself. Before the two of them knew it, they were rolling around on the floor of the van, hysterically laughing.

"Are you guys okay back there?" Kira called out, turning around to see what was the cause of all of the commotion.

"And someone thought it would be a good idea to have teenagers become agents?" Joe grumbled, frowning slightly.

"Oh come on Joe, they are best friends and just found out that they are now partners. It's been a long night for the both of them. Give them a break." Kira replied as she turned to face her partner. By this time, Tori and Beck had finally calmed down enough to climb back into their seats.

"I just cannot believe that you are my partner!" Tori squealed before realizing what a fan girl she must sound like. Taking a deep breath and attempting to not sound like a complete idiot, she continued. "I mean, it's just that I thought I was the only one who made it into S.T.A.R.S."

Beck smirked at her sudden outburst, enjoying the fact that Tori was starting to act a little bit like her old self around him.

"That's what I thought too." But, if it had to be anyone, I'm glad that you're my partner Tori." Beck said as he smiled warmly at his dear friend.

Tori smiled back at him, thinking she could get used to spending all of this extra time with Beck. Of course, it would only be on a friendly and professional level. They were partners now, and the job always comes first.

"I'm glad you're my partner too Beck." Tori softly said as she felt her cheeks flush. A few awkward moments passed before Tori continued their conversation.

"So...how did your initiation weekend go?" Tori asked, as memories of that horrible time not too long ago came back to haunt her. She saw Beck's eyes cloud over and could tell that it was not a memory he wanted to revisit, at least at this point.

"It was…awful. Let's just leave it at that," was his tense answer. Tori took that as a sign that the topic was off-limits for now and she quickly tried to think of another topic to discuss.

"10 more minutes until we are back at The Facility," Joe declared from the driver's seat. Tori was thrilled at Joe's abrupt interruption because it seemed to pull Beck back from his memories and into the present. The look of fear and and anger left his eyes and was replaced by the sparkle that was usually present.

"Okay, so you know how in Sikowitz's class sometimes he asks us to think of the first word that comes to our mind when he asks us a question? Let's play that game, only about stuff we have learned in training!" Tori said excitedly, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Okay, but who is going to ask the questions?" Beck wondered aloud.

"Let's alternate, I'll start. What's your favorite style of hand-to-hand combat?" Tori fired off at rapid speed.

"Krav Maga, and you?"

"Jujitsu, probably cause it is one of the only styles where I don't constantly trip and fall on my ass!" Tori joked.

Beck chuckled at Tori's attempt at making fun of herself before asking his first question. "What is your weapon of choice?"

"XM8 Assault Rifle." Tori answered quckly. "What about you?"

"Benelli M4 Super 90 Semi-Automatic Shotgun." Beck said without hesitation.

"So, you like the more close range type of weapons, eh?" Tori inquired, while also poking fun at Beck's Canadian heritage.

"What can I say aboot it; I like to be close to a target before I shoot it." Beck said, smirking slightly at his silly joke.

"If you kids are done flirting, we're back." Joe stated as Tori and Beck both rolled their eyes.

As they entered the building, Beck continued questioning Tori. "So, all of those times you said you were at acting camp? Was that really just your cover?"

"That and my awesome "job" at the mall." Tori replied sarcastically. "And no wonder you were going to visit your family in Canada so much, you were…"

"Training with Joe, yup." Beck finished for her.

As the four agents entered The Facility, Kira and Joe went to check in with Washington while Tori and Beck walked over to a small couch and sat down.

"So, was Kira the one who did the majority of your training?" Beck asked her, looking over at the beautiful Asian woman.

"Yes…and quit leering at her!" Tori replied as she smacked Beck on the arm. "Did you do most of your training with Joe?"

"Yeah…he seems tough, but he knows his shit." Beck announced.

"Hey, you two, over here." Kira called from where she and Joe sat in front of a computer terminal.

"So, what's up?" Beck asked as he and Tori made their way over to the two older agents.

"We wanted to let you guys know that you are done for the evening and you can go home." Kira answered as she went over to another computer terminal and began furiously typing on the keyboard.

"But, tomorrow is going to be another big day for you both. Now that you have been partnered up, you will have to learn to work together as a seamless team. We will be starting to train you in partnering skills tomorrow. You two have to learn to think alike, almost like one person split in half. You have to learn to rely on one another and partner training will help you learn to do that." Joe said as he looked from Beck to Tori, making sure that they understood the severity of what he was telling them.

"Right, work together…so can we go home now?" Tori asked, feeling extreme exhaustion settling onto her.

"Yes, you can go home. But, be back here tomorrow, 7am, sharp!" Joe announced as he went back to his computer screen. Tori and Beck slowly made their way outside, both of them dragging their feet as the evening's events finally caught up to them.

"Do you want a ride home?" Beck asked as he saw that Tori had ridden her bike to The Facility.

"Oh yes, please! That would be fantastic." Tori said as she inwardly breathed a huge sigh of relief. She hadn't wanted to pressure Beck into driving her home but she honestly didn't think she had the strength to get herself home on her bike.

"Just leave your bike. I'll pick you up in the morning and you can take it home with you tomorrow."

Beck walked around to the passenger side door and quickly opened it for Tori, offering her his hand as she stepped into the car. Tori smiled sweetly at him as she slid into the passenger seat.

"Why thank you kind sir." She said, using the voice that Jade liked to mimic her with.

"Anything for you M'lady." Beck replied as he slid into the driver's seat and started up his 1969 red Mercury Cougar. He quickly pulled out of the parking lot and headed in the direction of Tori's house.

"I forgot to ask you before, but why were you involved in my field test today?" Tori suddenly asked. "Was it your field test too?"

"Nope." Beck replied in a slightly smug tone of voice. "I passed my field test last week. I honestly thought that this was supposed to be my first mission. Joe and Kira didn't give me much information, just that I was supposed to pick up a briefcase from a coffee shop and deliver it to some guy at that abandoned shipping yard. I had no idea that another agent would be involved or that I would be posing as the enemy in someone's field test."

"I'm surprised they didn't give you a gun or something to defend yourself with. I mean, I really could have shot you and you would have had no form of protection."

"Well, I think Joe and Kira were betting on the fact that you are you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tori asked, realizing that she sounded a lot like Cat at that moment.

"Just that it isn't in your nature to want to hurt people. I think they knew that you would do anything within your power to get out of having to harm someone physically, even if it meant putting yourself in danger." Beck theorized while keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him.

"Speaking of that," he continued. "We have got to make sure that you will be able to actually take someone out if and when the time comes. You can't hesitate like you did today with me Tor. The people we will be going after aren't our friends and they won't be giving us any second chances."

"I know, I know." Tori said as she felt herself tense up. "It's just…" She paused as she tried to think of the right words to convey how she felt.

"Beck, I'm scared. I know I have had all of this training and I can physically do it but, I don't want to kill anyone." Tori said as her shoulders slumped. "You probably think that they are idiots for picking me, don't you?"

"Nope." Beck answered as he reached over and squeezed Tori's hand. "I know that they had a good reason for picking you Tori Vega and like I said before, I wouldn't want anyone else to be my partner."

"Yeah, right." Tori grumbled. "I am sure you would much rather have been partnered with someone like Jade, someone who kicks ass first and asks questions later."

"Actually, Jade is not somebody who I think would be a good fit for this type of job. She gets angry too easily and she lets her emotions rule her actions. Now suck it up Vega and quit talking about Jade and feeling sorry for yourself!"

Shocked at his harsh words, Tori looked over to find Beck smiling apologetically at her and she couldn't help but to reciprocate. He really was one of her best friends and she was so glad he was going to be along for the crazy ride she knew they had ahead of them.

She didn't realize how quickly the time had passed until she noticed Beck pulling up in front of her house. He quickly put his car in park and leaned over to give her a hug, hoping that she would realize how much he believed in her.

"You can do this Tori, we can do this together." Beck said before sticking out his pinky finger, holding it ready to do what is known across the world as the "pinky swear."

"Partners?" Beck asked as he nodded towards his pinky, waiting for Tori's response.

Tori hesitated for a moment, could she really do this? Then she remembered everything she had been through in the past few months. She had already reached and moved beyond so many goals that she never would have dreamed of being able to do six months ago. And, now she had Beck, one of her best friends by her side. She felt a rush of exhilaration run through her as she finally linked her pinky with his.

"Partners!"

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><p><strong>So, I know it was a long time in coming but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really wanted Beck and Tori to restablish themselves on both a professional and friendly level. I know I promised you guys that I would address the rest of the group in this chapter but I just couldn't get to that part. It will be in the next chapter though, I promise!<strong>


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